Berakhot

Tell also our brethren in the Diaspora [not to listen to him]. If they listen to you, well and good; if not, let them go up to the mountain, let Ahia  build an altar and let Hananiah play the harp,  and let them all become renegades and say that they have no portion in the God of Israel'. Straightway all the people broke out into weeping and cried, Heaven forbid, we have a portion in the God of Israel. Why all this to-do? — Because it says, For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  We can understand that if he declared clean they should declare unclean, because this would be more stringent. But how was it possible that they should declare clean what he declared unclean, seeing that it has been taught: If a Sage has declared unclean, his colleague is not permitted to declare clean? — They thought proper to act thus so that the people should not be drawn after him. Our Rabbis have taught: When our teachers entered the vineyard at Jabneh,  there were among them R. Judah and R. Jose and R. Nehemiah and R. Eliezer the son of R. Jose the Galilean. They all spoke in honour of hospitality and expounded texts [for that purpose]. R. Judah, the head of the speakers in every place,  spoke in honour of the Torah and expounded the text, Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it without the camp.  Have we not here, he said, an argument a fortiori? Seeing that the Ark of the Lord was never more than twelve mil distant  and yet the Torah says, Everyone that sought the Lord went out unto the tent of meeting,  how much more [is this title  applicable to] the disciples of the wise who go from city to city and from province to province to learn Torah! And the Lord spoke unto Moses face to face.  R. Isaac said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, Moses, I and thou will propound views  on the halachah. Some say that the Holy One, blessed be He, said thus to Moses: Just as I have turned upon thee a cheerful face, so do thou turn upon Israel a cheerful face and restore the tent to its place. And he would return to the camp.  R. Abbahu said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Now they will say, The Master  is angry and the disciple  is angry, what will happen to Israel? If thou wilt restore the tent to its place, well and goods but if not, Joshua son of Nun, the disciple, will minister in thy place. Therefore it is written, 'And he would return to the camp'. Raba said: All the same [God's] word was not uttered in vain, since it says, But his minister Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tent. R. Judah spoke further in honour of the Torah, expounding the text, Attend [hasket] and hear, O Israel: this day thou art become a people unto the Lord thy God.  Now was it on that day that the Torah was given to Israel? Was not that day the end of the forty years [of the wandering]? It is, however, to teach thee that the Torah is as beloved every day to those that study it as on the day when it was given from Mount Sinai. R. Tanhum the son of R. Hiyya, a man of Kefar Acco  said: The proof is that if a man recites the Shema' every morning and evening and misses one evening, it is as if  he had never recited the Shema'. The word 'hasket' implies: Make yourselves into groups [kittoth] to study the Torah, since the knowledge of the Torah can be acquired only in association with others, as stated by R. Jose b. Hanina; for R. Jose b. Hanina said: What is the meaning of the text, A sword is upon the boasters [baddim] and they shall become fools?  A sword is upon the enemies of the disciples of the wise  who sit separately [bad bebad] and study the Torah. What is more, they become stupid. It is written here, 'and they shall become fools', and it is written elsewhere, For that we have done foolishly.  What is more, they are sinners, as it says, and we have sinned.  If you prefer, I can learn the meaning from here: The princes of Zoan are become fools [no'alu].  Another explanation of 'Attend [hasket] and hear, Israel'. Cut yourselves to pieces [kattetu] for words of Torah, as was said by Resh Lakish. For Resh Lakish said: Whence do we learn that words of Torah are firmly held by one who kills himself for it? Because it says, This is the Torah, when a man shall die in the tent.  Another explanation of 'Attend and hear, O Israel': Be silent [has] and then analyse [katteth],  as stated by Raba; for Raba said: A man should always first learn Torah and then scrutinize it. They said in the school of R. Jannai: What is meant by the verse, For the churning of milk bringeth forth curd, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood; so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife?  With whom do you find the cream of the Torah? With him who spits out upon it the milk which he has sucked from the breasts of his mother.  'The wringing of the nose  bringeth forth blood'. Every student who is silent when his teacher is angry with him the first time will become worthy to distinguish between clean blood and unclean. 'The forcing of wrath  bringeth forth strife': Every student who is silent when his teacher is angry with him a first and a second time will be worthy to distinguish between money cases and capital cases,  as we have learnt: R. Ishmael says, One who desires to be wise should occupy himself with money judgments, since no branch of the Torah surpasses them, for they are like a perpetual fountain [of instruction]. R. Samuel b. Nahmani said: What is meant by the verse, If thou hast done foolishly [nobaltah] in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast planned devices [zammotah], lay thy hand upon thy mouth?  Whoever abases [menabbel] himself for words of Torah  will in the end be exalted, but if one muzzles [zamam] himself, his hand will be upon his mouth. R. Nehemiah began to speak in praise of hospitality, expounding the text, And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for ye showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.  Have we not here an argument a fortiori: if such was the reward of Jethro  who befriended Moses only for his own benefit, how much more will it be for one who entertains a scholar in his house and gives him to eat and drink and allows him the use of his possessions! R. Jose began to speak in praise of hospitality, expounding the verse, Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother; thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land.  Have we not here an argument a fortiori? If such was the reward of the Egyptians who befriended the Israelites only for their own purposes, as it says, And if thou knowest any able men among them, then make them rulers over my cattle,  how much more will it be for one who entertains a scholar in his house and gives him to eat and drink and allows him the use of his possessions! R. Eliezer the son of R. Jose the Galilean began to speak in praise of hospitality, expounding the verse, And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his house … because of the Ark of God.  Have we not here an argument a fortiori? If such was the reward for attending to the ark which did not eat or drink, but before which he merely swept and laid the dust, how much more will it be for one who entertains a scholar in his house and gives him to eat and drink and allows him the use of his possessions! What was the blessing with which God blessed him [Obed-Edom]? — R. Judah b. Zebida says: This refers to Hamoth  and her eight daughters-in-law who each bore six children at a birth,